Maiden Long Lost
by Nienna3
Summary: *Chapter two up* An elf maiden of the First Age comes to Lothlorien and witnesses the departure of Galadriel. Set at very end of Third Age/very beginning of Fourth Age. Features Nellas and many more...Please read and review!
1. Discoveries

Disclaimer: I own none of Tokien's characters or places etc.  
  
Note: Any factual mistakes or anything, I apologise dearly. Please R & R!!!!  
  
Chapter One  
  
The maiden sat silently within the branches of the tree, hugging her knees close to her, not speaking a word as the grand host made towards the foot of the tree. Long had she dwelt in the eaves of the forest, having made no permanent home for herself. Never did she reveal herself to any of the Galadhrim or any other creature of Middle Earth, but as this beautiful group passed slowly by she was struck with a great awe and could not help but look. At the head of the host were seated two mighty elves upon horseback, as were all their followers. On the left sat a tall lord with hair of flowing silver down to his waist and he was robed in a silver mantle that shone in the twilight. And on the right sat a beautiful lady shrouded in white robes, her golden hair flowing out from beneath her hood. In the tree, the maiden gasped and slipped, causing the breakage of a thin branch. It fell to the forest floor before the horses of the two elves. The maiden hid within the golden leaves and steadied her quickening heartbeat. She dared not see what had befallen upon the ground.  
  
She heard the sound of elvish feet and that of arrows being drawn. She held her breath and closed her eyes.  
  
"Show yourself!" A fair elven voice floated from below, "You are in the presence of the Lord and Lady of these woods."  
  
She dared not answer. " Show yourself! Or one of our riders shall be forced to climb up to you and remove you!" He cried.  
  
Timidly she descended from the tree, as it was on the outskirts of the forest and not exceedingly high, and hid behind the grey trunk. The elf that had spoken to her made towards her, but the hand of the Lady of the Wood stayed him. She slowly walked to the maiden and held out her hand.  
  
"Come, you shall be seated besides my Lord and I for you are a guest of great honour here," she smiled as the maiden placed her pale hand in that of the Lady's.  
  
They travelled into the heart of the forest making little stops. Never did any elf speak to the maiden or pay her any heed apart from the Lady.  
  
"Long have you been staying in these woods I deem, yet you never thought to venture into our city?" She asked, riding beside the maiden. The maiden shook her head in reply, causing her chestnut hair to ripple down her back.  
  
"Now you shall see it, thought it seems that your heart shall remain in the eaves of the forest among the light and air. You are not suited to great halls and grand buildings, are you not?"  
  
The maiden said nothing, but slowly rode on.  
  
* * *  
  
The maiden had still said nothing when they reached Caras Galadhon and when she was brought to the great hall of the Lord and Lady; still she never spoke. The grandness and scale of the hall caused her to fear it as she had been of a similar place long ago and the eyes of the many surrounding her daunted her.  
  
"Will you not speak, O silent one? For though your identity be known to us we would wish to hear of your coming to our realm," The Lord spoke, and the maiden smiled for she had heard that voice before.  
  
"I.I travelled from my home after the halls fell and the king was slain. I came to the sea yet still more were killed so I fled over the mountains into the trees. Then the great ones came from the West and tore the earth, sinking the trees in which I had lived and the grave of the maiden," she ended in a whisper and bowed her head.  
  
"This maiden you speak of-did she live in the woods where you lived?" He asked, but he knew the answer.  
  
"You yourself should know this, for you saw her many times as you lived also in these woods," she replied and then signalling to the Lady by his side, "as did you for some time."  
  
"You speak truly and we cannot fool you," the Lady smiled, "you are an old one, far older than most in this realm indeed. Your life has most likely outstretched mine and my Lord's."  
  
"My mother and father were born by the star lit waters," she replied, "as was I."  
  
"You are indeed old, if what you speak be true, which I deem it is," the Lord smiled, "but come now, how did you come by this realm?" She fell silent under the watchful eye of all that were around her. She made to speak, yet she could find no words.  
  
"Do not fear, maiden of old, for though you felt the same in the halls in which we all once lived, you have no need to be frightened here. We shall not keep you long," the Lady smiled also and rose, taking the maidens hand.  
  
This smile brought the maiden courage and she smiled in return.  
  
"I lived in the trees over the mountains for some time, but much of that forest has gone," she explained to the Lady and to no one else, "and so I came over the mountains for I remembered a great wood from the journey long ago. There I stayed for a long while, but soon the woods were filled with darkness, so I crossed the river and came to this wood where I have dwelt since."  
  
"Do you like it here?" The Lord asked, joining them.  
  
The maiden nodded, but her face was sad.  
  
"These woods are like that of Doriath, yet I fear that its beauty shall leave forever."  
  
"You speak truly, for we are leaving these shores for the bliss of the West. And once we have passed away, the power of Lothlórien shall diminish," the Lady sighed, "indeed it is fading even as we speak."  
  
"That is sad, for now I know not where to go," the maiden whispered.  
  
"The West is ever open to you," the Lady replied, "yet I deem that that is not yet your path."  
  
"I do not wish to leave."  
  
"Then what to you wish?" The Lord asked. "I.I wish to sea the waters of Cuiviénen once more and to walk beneath the mountains of the East, the place of my birth," she relied, raising her voice in excitement.  
  
The Lord and Lady fell silent, as did the entire company. The maiden bowed her head, a tear falling gently down her cheek.  
  
"Yet I know that that is not possible, for they have long been lost," she whispered.  
  
"Indeed, the lands that you speak of were long ago destroyed by the wrath of Morgoth," The Lord sighed.  
  
"Then I.then I.wish to see Beleg once more!" She cried, turning frantically to the Lord, "my lord, you knew him, where can I find him? He long ago passed into shadow, and that I foresaw, yet now I wish to look upon him again!"  
  
"That would be your doom, for Beleg now waits in the Halls of Mandos and there none of the living can go," the Lord replied, taking her hand. He and his Lady led the maiden towards the gates, "but come, Nellas, for we shall keep you no longer this day."  
Please read and review! I will post more chapters soon. 


	2. Choices

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Tolkien's etc.  
  
Note: Any mistakes I apologise. Please read and review! Last chapter I put 'Tokien". Sorry-my L key is playing up.  
Chapter Two  
  
Nellas walked slowly through the trees; there was a strange light about the place. Neither the clear beauty of sunlight, nor the sheer stillness of moonlight, no, neither Arien or Tilion were felt in these parts of the wood. It was as if a single star had fallen and illuminated the entire world with its light from the dew of Telperion. This light brought back memories long lost to Nellas's mind; it was in this light that she had first beheld this world.  
  
Here the trees were immeasurably tall, many hiding innumerable flets within their leaves. Nellas had been walking for many days within the city, yet time was no matter here, although she could feel it seeping in from the outside world. Never did she converse with the Galadhrim, apart from the occasional greeting from a curious elf child and she seldom spoke with Galadriel or Celeborn.  
  
One star-lit evening Nellas was walking among the trees, picking the flower niphredil from the ground, which was covered by these stars of the earth as if it were covered in snow. She had always seemed to have one of these flowers placed lightly in her dark hair, even before she had set foot in Lórien. As she went beneath the trees she was joined silently by the Lady Galadriel, who was robed in a sheer white gown, studded with shimmering pearls. Her golden hair flowed freely about her shoulders and at this Nellas marveled, for it had always been an aspect of the Lady that she had admired even in the woods of Doriath where she had first known her.  
  
They walked in silence for many minutes yet at last the Lady spoke.  
  
"The time has come, Nellas, for you to make a decision. Do you wish to stay in these lands or take the ship to the West forever? For I shall depart soon and shall not return."  
  
Nellas shook her head like a troubled child.  
  
"I have no wish to see these lands of which you speak. I wish only to remain here, it is my home, I was born here, and I would not forsake it," she whispered bowing her head.  
  
Galadriel smiled. "You see, we are in a separate situation. I was not born in these lands, yet I have already forsaken the lands of my birth. But now I shall return to the city of Tirion and there I shall remain until the end of days."  
  
Nellas thought at these words. Long had she walked alone among the lands of the Hither Lands, but would she wish to remain alone until the end of days? Would that day ever come? Only Ilúvatar knows, she thought.  
  
"Now you have the choice of whither you will go. You are welcome to these lands, yet you are also free to wander the Earth until you find what you seek," Galadriel spoke with such comfort that all Nellas's doubts were mended and she danced gracefully away into the approaching night.  
  
* * *  
  
Nellas sat beneath the great trunk of a mallorn in the heart of the city. She was singing softly to herself words that she had heard long ago, although she did not know their meaning:  
  
"Namárië lissë kemen ar formenwa menel, an voro laitanë, an sinome né caita ar sinome hroanen tyelca né nornoroa undu Isil, undu Anar, Lúthien Tindómerel yanta vanima i fírima lambë voro nyarë. Nan ilya an atalantë lantanë Ambar ar né úcarna ar nanehortanë úcarna undumënna enwina, né cáralarya mára, i histen, i ara, i kemen, i Eär i Lúthien lúlin núva."  
  
There was a note of sadness in her voice for she knew that within the song was the name of Lúthien, therefore it was a lament.  
  
"You know the tongue of the West?" A fair voice asked from behind her.  
  
Nellas turned and shook her head. Before her stood the very elf who had confronted her the day in the eaves of the woods. Yet this time he was smiling and gestured a request to sit by her. She nodded and then continued singing to herself.  
  
"If you know not the tongue of the West, then why do you sing it?" He laughed.  
  
She hesitated, yet found courage to speak, "I.I sing it for I heard it long ago, yet I know not its meaning."  
  
"You sing of Lúthien Tinúviel or do my ears deceive me?" "I do."  
  
"Then let me translate for you your words for I have long been learnt in the tongue. Although the words are sad ones," she sighed, then began to sing softly in a melodious voice:  
  
"Farewell sweet earth and northern sky, for ever blest, since here did lie and here with lissom limbs did run beneath the Moon, beneath the Sun, Lúthien Tinúviel more fair than mortal tongue can tell. Though all to ruin fell the world and were dissolved and backward hurled unmade into the old abyss, yet were its making good, for this the dusk, the dawn, the earth, the sea that Lúthien for a time should be."  
  
He could see a tear falling steadily down Nellas's cheek.  
  
"I would offer you comfort, yet I fear that your grief for the passing of Lúthien is great indeed," he sighed, "do you know the story well?"  
  
Nellas turned to him and nodded urgently. "I was there at her birth, I watched her grow into the beautiful maiden that she was. It grieved me greatly at her passing."  
  
The elf looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "You say that you were at her birth? You have seen the maiden Lúthien?"  
  
"Aye. She was the most wondrous child to look upon. She had the beauty of the Queen," Nellas sighed and smiled, as if recalling memories of old, "their beauty was unearthly." The smile faded, "Yet that beauty is long forgotten in this earth. Lúthien has diminished and the Queen is gone also."  
  
"Where did Melian go?" He asked quietly.  
  
Nellas was startled at hearing the name of Melian, for she had not heard it since the first age. "I do not know, but she was a spirit from the West so it would seem likely for her to return over the sea after the King was slain."  
  
"Indeed I am well learnt in the tales of Beleriand-the fall of Doriath is a sad one," he replied gazing towards the ground.  
  
There was silence between them, while the light was failing and the night drawing in about them. Yet after some time he spoke once more.  
  
"You believe that the beauty of Lúthien has long left this world, do you not?"  
  
Nellas was confused, but nodded all the same.  
  
"Yet I have heard from many sources, even from the Lord and Lady themselves, that there is one who bears a resemblance with Lúthien."  
  
Nellas was silent, therefore he continued.  
  
"She is a great Queen of Men in a kingdom south of here and she is said to have brought the beauty of Lúthien into this world once again."  
  
Nellas turned to him sharply. "A Queen of Men? How would one who bears a likeness with Lúthien, the daughter of the firstborn and of the Maiar, be of the race of Men?"  
  
The elf laughed and shook his head. "You speak too quickly, fair maiden, you did not allow me to finish. Queen Arwen was once of the firstborn, but chose the fate of a mortal, as did Lúthien, her kinswoman, long ago."  
  
Nellas nodded and smiled. "I see. Did she indeed chose this fate for her love of a mortal, as did Lúthien?"  
  
"Aye. King Elessar of Gondor, a famous man in all the free kingdoms of Middle Earth. He played a great part in the War of the Ring. You have not heard of him?" He asked, although he knew the answer.  
  
Nellas shook her head.  
  
"I thought not," he stood and bowed to the sitting maiden, "Goodnight, sweet maiden, may we meet again."  
  
He turned and began to walk away. Nellas quickly stood and caught his arm.  
  
"Good sir, I would very much like to see this Queen that is said to resemble Lúthien. How might I get to her?" She asked shyly.  
  
He smiled. "It just so happens that a large company of our people, and those of the Great Wood, are going south to the land of Ithilien to make our homes there. Lórien shall lose its beauty so we shall leave."  
  
"Is this place near to the home of the Queen?"  
  
"Indeed it is not far at all. Would you perhaps wish to join our company?" He smiled once more.  
  
"I do not like to intrude or meddle in other peoples' business, although as I can no longer stay in Lórien, I should like to go south to meet this Queen," she replied, but then added hastily, "If it is no trouble."  
  
"There is no trouble," he led her to a stone bench where they sat and he talked of Ithilien and the lands to the south. Nellas still said very little, but just listened to him speak until the sun came up and the birds of the day began their sweet songs.  
  
Please R&R. I will post more chapters soon! 


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